Bookstore Dimension

— Ayo, Useless. — Epicenter nodded. — I don’t know what Limbo is thinking, but I’m gonna try and get to him. Can you deal with those three, for now?

She was a short woman with long black hair that hid her head. She didn’t wear gloves or shoes and those were the only visible things about her. Being the second youngest person on The Lapse, she was a rather new addition to team. Some say that Useless could rival Imperium’s power.

— You want me to be USEFUL?!

— Just try not to die, you creepy lunatic.

Spotting the other members below them, Franchise suggests, beating them in exchange for a few answers and Ragnarok doubles down. And despite their Captain thinking about a few different approaches, she knew they probably didn’t know anything that would compromise Limbo, simply Limbo had already thought of that.

— We can try — wait!

They see Epicenter use her knife, the only method of traversing in this dimension, to create a gate and leave on her own. Strangely enough, Useless had also vanished from view.

— Wait! Are we trapped here?!

— Calm down, Ragnarok. We still have Franchise.

— You forget I can make my hand cut throught anything just by licking it? I might not have tested, but I don’t see why I couldn’t cut a hole throught this place and leave. Besides, where — go?

And behind them stood, Useless, the Depressed. The only image they had of the girl, was of a mellow and unsettling child, shoeless and with a hidden expression. But it wasn’t until now that they saw her other side.

— SO, YOU ARE THE ONES GETTING IN MY CAPTAIN’S WAY?!

She was on a nearby platform, just a little higher than them and crouched while speaking. They were at the same eye level considering the fact that her platform was upside down. Her hair was flowing down revealing her pale and ferocious face. She had different colored pupils, red and blue. Giving them the middle finger, she continued to speak.

— DON’T GET AHEAD OF YOURSELVES!!!

In the blink of an eye, as if a video had been skipped forward, Useless was right ahead of Ragnarok, smashing her foot into the enemy’s face. With her toes, she grabbed the hotheaded girl’s hair and dragged her face into the bookshelves below them. Reacting, Franchise tries to slash the short girl, but she had once again disappeared.

She had already landed kicks in all three of their torsos. From the sudden beatdown, Killerkill tried following the girl with her eyes. The short and skipping moments weren’t quite enough to get a complete read but Killer was slowly piecing her power together. Unfortunately for them, none of those three had gotten the chance to read her files, when The Lapse was still in place.

Useless’s VSS was described in the files as “Word-Based Time Warping”. The amount of time others speak is the amount of time she can move time forward. On the other hand, the words she spoke could move time backwards. And, unfortunately for everyone else, one of the things she had memorize, as to always have something to speak, was, word for word, the entirety of the Christian Bible.

— She doesn’t pack much of a punch. — Said Ragnarok getting back up.

— I’m not going to wait for her to grab a knife and stab us.

— Franchise?

— If the chance comes up, Captain, I’m killing this kid.

Licking his fingers once more, Franchise enters a defensive position along with Ragnarok and Killerkill, guarding each other’s backs. Simultaneously, as the base of operations had collapsed, Juice, Imperium and Evangelist had also entered the Bookstore Dimension, after their quick encounter with Limbo.

— Juice? Is your gun, okay?

— Yeah, I shoot a bullet with the intent of following Limbo.

— Where is he then?

— I don’t know. But he is here.

Ahead of them, just a bunch of floating bookshelves and no sign of friend nor foe.

— Wherever “here” is…

Behind them, a pair of voices made themselves known. The woman had a naturally hefty body, quite meaty. But her VSS implied her to continue eating. Therefore, this blonde chick carried a large backpack, filled with snacks. All for her of course. One of which, she was already gobbling on. A big bag of nacho chips. Meatball also had golden patterns over her uniform. Much like her teeth which were all gold. And in those teeth, the words “expert in pain”.

And she was paired with a shirtless, freak of a man. He was bald and his expression was hidden by a dark blue ball. His VSS made his facial features disappear. And many protrusions like blue spheres were seen, over his torso, arms, and shoulders. Big enough to hide entire parts of his body, but a man could definitely be seen under those. And the mask that was on his sphere-face was that of a demon, half happy, half furious.

— So, if Limbo wants to destroy the Lapse… does that mean… he also wants Searchers to die? Cause there some right there. — Said Meatball, eating slowly.

— Naturally, my dear fatty, The members of The Ballada must be dealt with.

— Okay. Sounds like a lot of work thought.

— ’Tis what our great captain had ordered.

— Damn. For a guy that doesn’t care about anything, he sure as hell is focused.

Leaving her bag of chips on the bookshelf platform, Meatball jumps in their general direction, leaving an orange and golden energy in the path she crossed. Noticing something behind them, Imperium turns and immediately snapped his fingers, causing Meatball to get rotated like an idiot and messes up her landing.

— Guys!

While Meatball recovered from the face planting, Juice already stepped over her, pointing his gun at her and asking for surrender. Evangelist had her scissors at the ready and Imperium could also snap his fingers at any moment.

— Oops. — Meatball said.

Slots sighed.

— Good grief.

He began to twist and churn. His body parts slide across the blue spheres and give him new shape. Assembled like a spaghetti noodle, he slides his way into the air. Moving like a whip, he launches new balls into the enemy’s direction. Because of experience, Juice knew instinctive not to shoot them and to keep his gun aimed at Meatball.

Because Imperium had already switched focus to the new attack, and if both of them had taken their eyes off their hostage, Meatball might have been able to escape. But because of the way Slots’ VSS worked, the spin effect Imperium placed on the balls had no repercussions. The balls where actually launched with hyper speed and collided with the bookshelves that floated around.

One of the balls hit Juice square in the face, knocking him off his feet. Meatball took the opportunity, to smack Evangelist away and make distance between, them all. Jumping to another platform, the golden energy that followed her became all the more intense. Slots reassembled himself, floating like a genie next to his ally. Imperium could see that a golden mist was next to him, left by Meatball from when she was downed.

— You okay Juice? — Evangelist asked

— I’m starting to wonder about retirement…

Imperium reached carefully into it as to understand what it was. But the tips of his fingers began to burn as if he had touched acid. But that was no normal acid. That was the mutant-like hyper efficient gastric juices from Meatball’s stomach, which she could transpire like a sludgy sweat. Her VSS produces more and more gastric juice the more she eats. You can’t blame this girl for pigging out.

— Don’t touch the golden goo. Got it. — Imperium spoke.

— You better not fire that gun at me! Or else! — Meatball readied herself.

— Else! — Juice fired his flare gun.

— You will not reach Captain Limbo… — Slots rearranged himself.

Slots and Meatball dodged the explosion caused by the flare. Floating, Slots kept launching balls that bounced off the platforms and filled the space. Meatball herself could run over the same path she currently emitted. Essentially running in the air, the two attack the Ballada from all sides.

— I’m counting on you boys! — Evangelist stayed back.

Imperium and Juice shot indiscriminately twisting and exploding everything the enemy send their way, while Evangelist searched for a valuable Thread. As the individuals’ battles raged on simultaneously, Limbo and Teacher found themselves in their own corner of the Bookstore Dimension.